


Baja Mermaid Splash

by AlmyranGold



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Beaches, M/M, Pre-Relationship, brief mentions of Sylvain's childhood trauma, it's not that angsty tho i promise, no beta we die like Glenn, very minor angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25141669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmyranGold/pseuds/AlmyranGold
Summary: Five years after losing contact with Felix, Sylvain quite literally runs into him at the beach and gets him covered in tropical green drink.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 1
Kudos: 64





	Baja Mermaid Splash

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short piece I wrote in honor of Sylvain's introduction to FEH tomorrow! I wrote it in about an hour and didn't get a beta, so hopefully it's not too illegible.

Sylvain didn’t swim much, and for good reason.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t swim. It was normally too cold to swim in Northern Faerghus, but every summer his family spent a week in the lakes in the south. Because of that, he’d learned to swim by six years old. Unfortunately, he’d un-learned at eight years old after Miklan nearly succeeded in drowning him. It took nearly five years before he could swim without breaking into a sheer panic, and by then, he’d grown disillusioned with it anyways.

Plus, swimming messed up his hair.

But he let Claude and Hilda talk him into going to the beach anyways. Those two were an unstoppable force when they wanted something, and Sylvain was unfortunately not an immovable object. He’d finally given in after Claude threatened to start cooking again if he stayed cooped up in their apartment. The stovetop was still burnt from his last cooking venture, and Hilda was still mad about getting food poisoning.

He knew they most likely wanted him there to buy them alcohol, but he wasn’t going to complain. His parents had just sent him several hundred dollars after he claimed he was taking a summer class online and needed books, and he couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than overpriced crappy beer.

“You brought the tanning lotion, right, Claude?” Hilda asked as they wove between beach blankets and bodies, looking for a place to set up.

“Yes, because I’m in desperate need of a tan,” Claude deadpanned. Sylvain snorted. Claude might have only been half-Almyran, but this part of the Alliance was almost aggressively white, so he was still several shades darker than most of the men and women tanning around them.

“Don’t give me your sass, mister! You’re the one who insisted you could pack more efficiently than me.”

“Hilda, a monkey could pack more efficiently than you. Remember when you showed up at Marianne’s house with an entire suitcase that only had one outfit and a toothbrush?”

“It was the only bag I could find!” 

“Ah, that’s nothing,” Sylvain said. “Once Ingrid came to my house with a bag literally full of rocks and said, and I quote, ‘I forgot those were in there.’”

“See? Get off my case,  _ Claude _ .”    
  


The trio finally came to an open spot, and Hilda immediately stretched out on her towel as Sylvain and Claude set down their bags and cooler. Sylvain grabbed the umbrella and set it up in the sand, but opening it proved to be harder than expected.

“Care to help?” he asked as he strained to prevent the umbrella from snapping shut on his head.

“Not really,” Hilda responded, wiggling her toes in the sand. “I’m sure you big, strong men can handle it.”

“Stop forcing it up, there’s probably something stuck in it,” Claude offered.

“Yeah Sylvain, you’ve got to be smarter than the umbrella.”

“I know that’s a herculean task for you, but you’ll manage.”

“Wow. Thanks for the support, guys. Where would I be without you?” Sylvain said.

“Dead in a ditch after Lorenz’s party,” Hilda said as she pulled a drink out of the cooler.

“Wow, you’re not gonna let that one go, are you?”

“Nnnnope.”

Sylvain finally got the umbrella put up and sat under it with a satisfied huff. Fuck, the sand was too hot. He cursed and snatched his towel. “It’s hot as balls out here,” he whined, reaching into the cooler and rooting around for a beer.

“Oh, boo hoo. It’s only, like, eighty-six,” Hilda said.

“It has not once been eighty-six in Gautier,” he said. “I think it was seventy-five once.”

“Yes, we know, you’re a Faerghus boy. But you’re outnumbered here. Claude and I are both fine.”

“Could be hotter for my taste. The wind’s pretty strong today,” Claude said. “But if you’re that hot, let’s get in the water.”

“But before you get in, you should go buy me something better to drink, because this beer is shit.” Hilda lifted her drink in the air and raised her eyebrows at Sylvain.

“Alright, alright. That’s what we get for letting Claude bring the alcohol, everything he drinks looks like tar.”

“Light beers are gross, and I stand by that,” Claude said.

“You’re wrong, but okay. Hilda, what do you want?”

“Just get me something fruity. Bonus points if it’s got a little umbrella in it.”

Sylvain emerged onto the pier and quickly found a stand with a short line. The cashier was a pretty brunette in a bikini and a light shoulder wrap shawl, and Sylvain shamelessly flirted with her while ordering three of the most tropical-sounding drink on the menu - a “Baja Mermaid Splash,” whatever that was. The cashier was flirting back hard, and he was about to ask for her number when her manager called her name and she retreated into the back. Oh well. Plenty of other beauties at this beach.

He headed back to his friends with a drink in each hand and one precariously pinched in between two fingers. He took the stairs one at a time rather than his regular three, and made it back to the beach without spilling anything. Unfortunately, just a few feet away from his umbrella, someone slammed into him, spilling all three drinks down his shorts.

“Fuck!” the figure shouted, backing away from Sylvain with his arms held out to the side. He had green drink all over his toned chest and blue swim trunks. “Watch where you’re going!”

“Hey, you weren’t exactly - wait,” Sylvain said, looking up. That voice sounded very familiar. He came face-to-face with long dark hair and piercing brown eyes. “...Felix?”

“Sylvain?” Felix said, eyes widening. “Is that you?”

“Felix!” Sylvain laughed, discarding the now-empty glasses in the sand and grinning at his old friend. He went in for a hug, but Felix sidestepped again.

“What the hell, Sylvain!” he shouted, attracting some attention from the people around them. “You just show back up after four years and expect me to be glad to see you?!”

Ah. Right.

Sylvain and Felix had been best friends for thirteen years before the death of Glenn’ Felix’s brother, led the Fraldarius family to move to Leicester in order to get a fresh start. Sylvain and Felix had kept in touch for the first few months after the move, but he’d lost Felix’s number after his parents discovered his Tinder profile and confiscated his phone. When he got it back almost four months later, he found that all of his contacts had been purged. He couldn’t get Felix’s number from his other friends, either - Felix had refused to give Ingrid his new phone number after they’d gotten into a fight about Glenn’s death, and Dimitri hadn’t spoken to him since Glenn’s death. When he came to the Alliance for college, he’d kept an eye out for Felix and asked around, but no one seemed to have heard of him. He occasionally looked for his old friend on social media, but he always came up empty-handed. He eventually had to accept the fact that he’d lost Felix.

But, of course, Felix didn’t know any of that. From his perspective, Sylvain had ghosted him four years ago and never attempted to contact him again.

“Felix, I can explain,” he said, holding his hands up in a placating manner.

“Sylvain, what’s going on?” Claude said from behind him. Sylvain turned and saw him standing with Hilda, looking confused and a little concerned. “Is this an ex of yours or something?”

“No. Clearly I’m nothing to him,” Felix said, turning on his heel.

“Felix wait,” Sylvain said, grabbing for his arm as he stomped away. He expected to be shrugged off, but Felix paused and turned back to him. “I’m sorry. I lost your phone number. I didn’t mean to ghost you like that.”

“Oh. It’s that Felix,” he heard Hilda tell Claude.

“What do you mean, ‘lost my number?’” Felix said.

“My parents took my phone and deleted my contacts. It’s a long story. I promise I’ll explain it all later.” He blew out a breath and pushed his hair behind his ear. “Can I get your number? We probably have a lot to talk about. I won’t lose it this time, I swear.”

Felix narrowed his eyes. “...Fine. Give me your phone. But I expect the full story later.”

Sylvain ran back over to his bag and pulled out his phone, unlocking it and handing it to Felix. Felix punched in his number and handed it back to Sylvain. He’d saved his contact as “Fraldarius.” Sylvain immediately changed the name to “Felix 😾.”

“There. My friends and I are leaving now,” Felix said, crossing his arms.

“Okay, but we’ve gotta catch up soon. I’ll call you,” he promised. 

“Whatever,” Felix called, already striding away from Sylvain.

“Yeah, he’s still mad,” he muttered to himself.

Claude walked up to him with a smirk, leaning his arm on Sylvain’s shoulder. “So. That’s Felix? THE Felix? Childhood best friend slash gay awakening Felix?”

“Yes, but  _ please  _ don’t bring up that last part.”

“Interesting. I thought he’d be taller.”

“And cuter,” Hilda added.

“Hilda, I  _ will  _ pour what’s left of these drinks on you,” he said.

“You’ll be paying for a new swimsuit if you do! This thing was a hundred forty dollars.”

Sylvain ignored her comment in favor of sending Felix a text.  _ hey felix, its sylvain. i know ive got a lot to explain. when are you free?  _

The response came only seconds later.  _ I’m off work most mondays, _

Sylvain grinned. Well, Felix couldn’t be too mad at him if he’d responded instantly.  _ do you live around here? we could get coffee at the golden deer next monday. _

_ Yes. Fine. _

_ its a date,  _ Sylvain typed. Wait, that was coming on  _ way  _ too strong. He erased it and sent  _ ill see you there  _ instead. 

“Hey, Sylvain, stop grinning at your phone like a dope and come swim with me,” Claude called.

“Alright, alright,” he said. Felix had left him on read anyways. He joined Claude in the cool water and tried to focus on having fun, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Felix.

He still wasn’t much for swimming, but going to the beach hadn’t been such a bad idea.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave kudos or a comment if you enjoyed! I've been feeling really down about my writing lately, so I apologise for not posting much. Hopefully I can get my motivation back up and update my longer fics soon!


End file.
